15/12/2023

"I’m doing for myself and not for anybody else" - Chris Froome admits he may continue racing beyond 2025

Chris Froome continues to race with a motivation that is perhaps difficult for some to understand. But he makes it clear that he does it for himself and is thankful for the second opportunity he got in the sport, and 2025 may not be his final year in the peloton.

“It’s not 100% certain that I’ll stop at the end of 2025, that depends a lot on how I’m going between now and then. But doing 2024 and 2025 is the minimum," Froome admitted in an interview with Gazetta dello Sport. He has a contract with the Israeli team until the end of 2025, but he does not set a date in which he'll hang up his wheels. In 2024, his vision is clear as well: “At this moment, the Giro d’Italia option isn’t on the table. The main objective is still to get back to the start of the Tour de France and in the best form possible.”

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Froome has had a difficult 2023 season and also talked about changes in his bike details, to which not all reacted positively. Team manager Sylvan Adams as well had some less good words for the Briton, putting doubts into the bike changes and saying that would not have him race Grand Tours all of a sudden. A public spat of some sort, but Froome doesn't think so.

“I actually talk with Sylvan a lot. But I understand the question. It’s easy to get the wrong idea when certain comments emerge in the media," he responds. "Honestly, a lot of what he said has been blown out of proportion. But the reality is that we’re quite close. There aren’t problems between us."

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It is also argued that Froome's career has had a downfall and it is difficult to understand why he continues in the peloton. The former Tour de France winner is nowhere near the level he's once had, but he is honest that his motivation comes from elsewhere: “I can understand that perspective completely, but can I explain my point of view? What I’m doing now, I’m doing for myself and not for anybody else. Not for the fans, not for the journalists."

"I never look to my past with all the victories. I risked my life and I had to start again from less than nothing, learning even to walk again. I had a second chance and everything else that comes is a bonus. I’m still following my dreams and that’s why I’m grateful to the team I’m on. I want to finish with no regrets.”